Infineon, Renesas see sales tumble in industrial ranking

LONDON – The eight leading suppliers of industrial semiconductors suffered revenue declines in 2012, reflecting weak conditions for a "beleaguered market," according to market information provider IHS (see table below).

The top ten accounted for $12.19 billion of revenue, or 40.4 percent of the overall industrial semiconductor space, which IHS valued at $30.15 billion for 2012. IHS said that the industrial semiconductor market declined 5.4 percent in 2012 compared with 2011. The numbers reflect a slowdown in such markets as security, test and measurement, motor drives, metering, medical electronics and renewable energies, IHS said.

Texas Instruments stayed on top despite declining revenues. TI did well in medical electronics and in the building and home control market, but was negatively affected by poor demand for motor drives and automation equipment. A bad year for wind and solar energy also pummeled TI in the energy distribution and generation segment.

STMicroelectronics climbed above Infineon to second position as the Franco-Italian chip vendor suffered a more modest decline than is German rival. Both companies saw revenue retreat but each one saw growth in the lighting, building and home control markets, said IHS.

The only two companies in the top ten to increase sales were Nichia and Panasonic, both from Japan, who displaced NXP and Xilinx in the ranking. Nichia jumped from 16th position in 2011 thanks to increasing sales of LEDs for general lighting. Panasonic came up from 11th on the back of sales into security cameras and medical applications.